1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a stamp, and more particularly to a fountain stamp that is able to operate without an external stamp pad. Moreover, the fountain stamp is specially designed to prevent ink from staining a user""s hand or clothing.
2. Description of Related Art
A stamp is a kind of tool that people would use to press or print a mark or pattern onto a surface. One kind of stamp that is popular especially in the eastern-world is used for printing a person""s name onto, for example, a document in lieu of a handwritten signature. However, to use the stamp requires a stamp pad for applying ink onto a face of the stamp. A user may forget to bring the stamp pad when needed or feel it is inconvenient to carry the stamp pad. Furthermore, after the stamp has been used, residue of the ink may easily stain the user""s hand or clothing. Therefore, an improvements on the conventional stamp is needed.
With reference to FIGS. 7, 8 and 9, a portable stamp is invented to overcome the aforementioned shortcomings. The portable stamp includes a body (50) and a housing (60) for receiving the body (50). A connecting plate (51) outwardly extends from a bottom portion of the body (50) and has a cutout (511) defined through a distal end of the connecting plate (51). A rotatable plate (52) is pivotally connected the distal end of the connecting plate (51) via a first hinge (512) while the cutout (511) provides a space for the rotatable plate (52) to be able to pivot freely. A stamp plate (53) having a face formed with a pattern is firmly attached to a side of the rotatable plate (52). A connecting arm (55) extending parallel to the connecting plate (51) is pivotally connected to the bottom portion of the body (50) via a second hinge (54). A retaining plate (56) is further securely connected to the connecting arm (55) and securely mounted with a stamp pad (57). The stamp pad (57) contains ink so that when the body (50) is stored inside the housing (60), as shown in FIG. 7, the stamp pad (57) engages with the face of the stamp plate (53) and thereby applies the ink onto the face.
With reference specifically to FIG. 9, when in operation, the body (50) is pulled out of the housing (60) and the rotatable plate (52) is manually pivoted to a proper angle for stamping. However, the portable stamp has the following disadvantages:
1. The connection between the connecting plate (51) and the rotatable plate (52) is not secured and no positioning means is provided to hold the rotatable plate (52) in place. Therefore, the rotatable plate (52) may undesirably pivot and affect the performance of the portable stamp during stamping.
2. After several consecutive times of stamping, reapplying of the ink is required, due to the stamp plate (53) becoming exhausted of ink. A user has to manually engage the stamp plate (53) with the stamp pad (57). Similarly, when storing the body (50) into the housing (60), the user also has to manually engage the stamp plate (53) and the stamp pad (57) in order to receive the body (50) in the housing (60). These engaging procedures mentioned may easily cause staining of the user""s hand and clothing.
Therefore, it is an objective of the invention to provide an improved fountain stamp to mitigate and/or obviate the aforementioned problems.
An objective of the present invention is to provide a fountain stamp having a base plate and a stamping plate receivable into a housing so that the fountain stamp can be conveniently carried around. Moreover, the base plate is provided with a torsion spring such that when the base plate and the stamping plate are pulled out of the housing, the stamping plate is able to be pivoted automatically to an angle suitable for stamping.
Another objective of the present invention is to provide a fountain stamp having an ink container for storing ink that permeates through an ink pad and moistens the stamping plate so that the ink is automatically applied onto a stamping face of the stamping plate.
Other objectives, advantages and novel features of the invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.